This is a discussion on New Subaru owner! Saying Hi and asking a question! within the New Member Hangout forums, part of the Community - Meet other Enthusiasts category; Hi guys,
I just purchased a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX wagon today. Cost me 6k canadian. It has heated seats ...

New Subaru owner! Saying Hi and asking a question!

Hi guys,

I just purchased a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX wagon today. Cost me 6k canadian. It has heated seats and power windows lol. Um, only had 141k for kilometers and I didn't think that was too bad. I've been driving a 02 automatic Chevy Cavalier the last few years and it has 144k on it but its dying. I just really wanted a standard transmission car again because I once owned a 93 civic si that I loved. It had 280 on it when I sold that little thing. Anyway, first off id like to say... my god this car is fast.... like as in its hard to drive cause you always fight to slow it down lol. I would like to know since I just bought the car today what should I get done to it? Meaning for maintenence. The guy said the timing belt was changed at 136k so that was recent. But I want to know what I need done, I want everything done. Here's what I gleaned from reading posts: (sorry I'm typing on mobile so my grammer and spelling blows)

Check brakes and rotors
Air filter change?
Check struts and anything to that degree
Is there other belts to change?

What else should I do? I want everything possible changed. Ill get oil and filter changed every 6k kilometers after that too. I have a couple more grand in my budget so I don't care if its costly. I just don't know what needs to be done and since I just bought it and its ten year old, time to pamper it and then send it to the spa. I want this to last another 141k lol

Search out the alignment thread posted by BigSkyWRX before you have a four wheel alignment. How does it handle? Other than fast does it drive well? Getting it on a rack and having veteran eyes look at what needs to be repaired is a good idea IMO. I started with replacing the turbo's up pipe.

Search out the alignment thread posted by BigSkyWRX before you have a four wheel alignment. How does it handle? Other than fast does it drive well? Getting it on a rack and having veteran eyes look at what needs to be repaired is a good idea IMO. I started with replacing the turbo's up pipe.

Oh sorry where are my manners! Welcome to the club!

Will do... Shoopster sent me a pile to read Its ridiculous, this car, in a good way. The suspension is rock solid. I mean rock solid. I thought my si had a solid suspension, the wrx feels like a tank. Course it doesn't ride smooth at all due to that but I bet in can corner like crazy. Its the first turbo car I've ever driven so when the turbo spools up it feels like I get kicked in the ass. The old guy who had it took good care of it. I will be getting it to a professional asap though want to take car of it. I know just the basics about cars, oil changes etc, so this could be a fun hobby. What exactly does the turbo up pipe do? The guy at the raceworkz store here in town has a ATP external gated turbo for sale. I am assuming if I change the turbo I have to get the car tuned. Sorry if I am asking dumb questions but I bought the car to kinda learn a bit. for example, I didn't realize you should let the car warm up everytime you drive it even when its warm out. Or when your done with it let it idle so the turbo can cool down before you kill the engine. A buddy said they have some kind of turbo kill switches where you can turn off the car with the key but it will idle for 2 minutes and then shutoff. I need one of them :\ hard to remember to let it idle.

Oh another question, where is optimal range for gear shifting? I am used to doing it at 3k but don't know if that's too soon for this animal. Lol. The speed limit in town is 50kph, which is third gear at 2.2k rpm. hahah If I am in fourth, I'm speeding.... also I keep bogging it down on launch too, its jerky. I tried letting the clutch up slower and it didn't seem to work. I tried popping the clutch with more gas and nearly gave myself a concussion. I probably have to get used to it... the AWD might be screwing me up eh? The clutch is high up... feels awesome not squishy at all.

Awesome car... I feel like it wants to kill me

Edit: learning about the uppipe right now with this material shoopster gave me! Cool!

Ya the wrx isn't going to drive anything like your honda. Wait till snow you'll wonder how n the heck you ever got around without awd! All the mods I am doing/considering are being planned around the fact I don't have a tuner anywhere close(6hours drive time) so I probably have a different car in mind but.

Aftermarket up pipe or gutted up pipe=10ish HP. No tune Required

Turbo down pipe(directly after the turbo. Available with high flow cats or not) huge power add. MUST TUNE!!!

Lots of other power adding tricks. Most require tuning. The others should have a tune. Cool you have a shop handy that sounds like they can. Even a tune on a stock engine makes quite a difference.

I have been shifting around 2500 to 3500ish for just driving around. Easy to speed? Oh heck ya. I am always backing off throttle. My previous ride for the last 17 years was a over modded 84 camaro I built in college so I understand the driving style changes lol.

O. Don't let anyone try and talk you into a atmosphere dump blow off valve. There is a gigantic thread on it. IMO....just dont lol.

I have been replacing a ton of suspension bushings. What a difference but the hard core ones make the car noisy(nvh)

3-4k on the oil change sounds good. Having all the fluids flushed and replaced is super safe but kinda expensive all at once unless the seller had it done for ya. With that, hell ya go nuts. Then just follow recommended change intervals and gtg.

Read ClubWRX Forum until you pass out every night for a month. Post pics. Ask questions. Drive with a stupid grin all the time even when you miss first gear or reverse. Repeatedly.

Ya the wrx isn't going to drive anything like your honda. Wait till snow you'll wonder how n the heck you ever got around without awd! All the mods I am doing/considering are being planned around the fact I don't have a tuner anywhere close(6hours drive time) so I probably have a different car in mind but.

Aftermarket up pipe or gutted up pipe=10ish HP. No tune Required

Turbo down pipe(directly after the turbo. Available with high flow cats or not) huge power add. MUST TUNE!!!

Lots of other power adding tricks. Most require tuning. The others should have a tune. Cool you have a shop handy that sounds like they can. Even a tune on a stock engine makes quite a difference.

I have been shifting around 2500 to 3500ish for just driving around. Easy to speed? Oh heck ya. I am always backing off throttle. My previous ride for the last 17 years was a over modded 84 camaro I built in college so I understand the driving style changes lol.

O. Don't let anyone try and talk you into a atmosphere dump blow off valve. There is a gigantic thread on it. IMO....just dont lol.

I have been replacing a ton of suspension bushings. What a difference but the hard core ones make the car noisy(nvh)

3-4k on the oil change sounds good. Having all the fluids flushed and replaced is super safe but kinda expensive all at once unless the seller had it done for ya. With that, hell ya go nuts. Then just follow recommended change intervals and gtg.

Read ClubWRX Forum until you pass out every night for a month. Post pics. Ask questions. Drive with a stupid grin all the time even when you miss first gear or reverse. Repeatedly.

Yeah I'm for sure spending the cash to get all the fluids changed. Lol. I have no idea about mods yet, learning. The exhaust on the car now has no catalytic converter and is according to the guy, straight piped off the headers, if that makes sense lol. God the car is loud! Probably should look into that. It backfires when downshifting occasionally. Rare tthough. I was going to look into exhaust right after all the fluids because people four blocks away cower in fear when the car hits 5k rpm. It actually makes me drive slower due to the excessive noise. Lol. Sounds cool but Im probably looking to get pulled over hah. Thanks for the help eh guys? Oh and ladies!!!!!! I will take pix with my phone tomorrow

Oh yeah I forgot.... 4 brand new never used fully studded winter tires on rims came with the car when I bought it. Yes. Studded tires are legal here

oh man. ok picx are now your life saving requirement lol. i am hoping that he either meant straight pipe after the turbo. or it has a aftermarket header system leading to the turbo. or both. and a tune or your heading to busted vile. no muffler=backfire lol. maybe flames. ive not listened to many 02's with aftermarket exhaust pipes(muffler) but the one i have was slightly modded/tuned to about 280 horse power and had a Borla Hush muffler. I will be having one of these, my camaro had borla and so did my duster. love them all, but have to save for a bit lol.

sounds like your car already has extensive mods already. maybe swing it by that race shop you mentioned so they can break down whats been done to the car if you cant get a list from the guy you bought it from. that or the shop he had the mods done at. knowledge of that will be a huge guide to changing it into 'your car' from 'his car'. that or fixing/correcting the mods he did without looking here first. i just about wont do a job without reading up on it here or NASIOC first to make damm sure it is safe for my car. i am in it for the long haul too and would like to hit 300k miles. (sorry, i cant convert to kilometers in my head....and i am only about two hours from your border. shame on me)

i have new inexpensive non studded snow tires and never had problems this winter. and it was a bad one for our area this year. so you are in great shape for winter! just dont go tugging your e-brake to drift. tranny pieces=busted. use the gas petal

Last edited by tirerob; 05-26-2013 at 10:24 PM.
Reason: re-tuning my brain to run on less than 104 octane coffee after 10 pm

Tirerob 280hp must feel nice in that bugeye. What turbo did you swap? Vf39? How much boost do you run? My buddy has a bugeye and just bought a vf39 so I was curious what your setup is. He is only looking to get about that much whp too

Aah let me edit that. That is my good friends car. Its a 02 wagon with just about his entire life savings dumped into it. I do know he has a over bored block, grim speed matching PNP exaust headers cross and up pipe. I forget the downpipe but cat less and three inch to a borla hush. Add tuning stage two plus and presto. There is tons of mods he does almost every weekend heck I can't keep up with his complete list. I do know at track days he was having problems keeping 19psi(his norm under race conditions) big timc and all mods needed to dyno a 281 HP pull. I can tell you it about broke my neck in second gear.

I am a long long way from that with mine sorry. Maybe if it was new.....240? With a street tune maybe. Sory if I mislead. His is the only bugeye with big mods I've heard with a Borla Hush. And the music it makes.....ohhh my. Lotsa power with a great sound. This is what I am modeling my exhaust after, only now I can go grimmspeed all the way with they're new downpipe. After I win the lottery lol

The guy at the raceworkz store here in town has a ATP external gated turbo for sale. I am assuming if I change the turbo I have to get the car tuned. Sorry if I am asking dumb questions but I bought the car to kinda learn a bit. for example, I didn't realize you should let the car warm up everytime you drive it even when its warm out. Or when your done with it let it idle so the turbo can cool down before you kill the engine. A buddy said they have some kind of turbo kill switches where you can turn off the car with the key but it will idle for 2 minutes and then shutoff. I need one of them :\ hard to remember to let it idle.

Oh another question, where is optimal range for gear shifting? I am used to doing it at 3k but don't know if that's too soon for this animal. Lol. The speed limit in town is 50kph, which is third gear at 2.2k rpm. hahah If I am in fourth, I'm speeding.... also I keep bogging it down on launch too, its jerky. I tried letting the clutch up slower and it didn't seem to work. I tried popping the clutch with more gas and nearly gave myself a concussion. I probably have to get used to it... the AWD might be screwing me up eh? The clutch is high up... feels awesome not squishy at all.

Welcome!

You don't need to really worry about the turbo cooling down every time you drive the car. You also don't need any turbo timer or anything like that. The turbos in these cars are well cooled, so you really only need to let the car idle for a bit before shutting off if you were really flogging it right before coming to a stop.

As far as shifting, for normal driving I usually shift somewhere around 3000 and try to keep the rpms at least at 2250 or so. If I'm lower, like 2k or less, then it is putting a lot of load on the engine, making it work harder than I want. And I have a newer model with the 2.5 liter engine, so I imagine yours it is even a little further right.

As far as a quick start, you're right, with the AWD it is easy to bog these cars down. Here's the thing to remember: don't dump the clutch. Because traction is not too much of an issue with AWD, if you dump the clutch (let it out super fast) then it is a shock to the transmission. If you are trying to start quick it's better to slip the clutch out, which will put extra wear on the clutch, but a clutch is cheaper to replace than a differential.

Will do... Shoopster sent me a pile to read ....car warm up everytime you drive it even when its warm out. Or when your done with it let it idle so the turbo can cool down before you kill the engine. A buddy said they have some kind of turbo kill switches where you can turn off the car with the key but it will idle for 2 minutes and then shutoff. I need one of them :\ hard to remember to let it idle. ...!

Even when it's warm outside is still cold compared to the engine operating temp. So no matter what outside temps, the engine still needs to warm up. It just happens faster in summer.
Turbo cooling is not required, unless you been racing and have "heatsoak". The so-called turbo-timers are a thing of the past, since these are water-cooled. No issue there. Just a waste of money.

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